Adventures of a galactic smuggler
by Angel of Death360
Summary: An original story of mine, about a human smuggler named Jacen Quinn, four-hundred years into the future.
1. Chapter 1

Jacen Quinn hung by his arms in the prison cell. His black overcoat lay disbanded on the cold cement floor, next to his pathetically thin mattress.

The Somakian patrol had picked him up four days ago, they'd inspected his ship, the _Blind Pope_ , and had discovered his illegal goods that he had tried to smuggle into the Empire. It was just some antimatter, no big deal, but no matter how many times you try to argue with a Somakian naval officer, they just won't listen to a lowly human smuggler. In Jacen's opinion, he was just living up to his planet's name, after all, what kind of Keltoran doesn't smuggle, it's just unnatural. So after some beatings and interrogation, they'd thrown him into this cell, where the beatings and the interrogations continued, if less frequent. The Somakians were known for their brutality and violence, though this was the first time Jacen had ever experienced it, if you don't count that time on Raxon II, that is. The Somakians treated him as if he was a career criminal they'd been trying to catch for decades. In Jacen's thirty-three years of life, he'd only been smuggling for ten of them, before that he served in the Alliance Navy. Of course it was a well-known fact that the Somakians hated the Alliance, they'd even fought a war against each other, back when Jacen was a child. It had lasted five years and killed over one billion individuals. Talk about hostility.

The cell door opened, two Somakians came in. The cell was so dark that Jacen couldn't see their red skin or pointed ears, but who else could it be. They approached him, one of them said "ready to talk?" It was in Somakian, most likely, but Jacen had a Universal Translator installed back when he joined the navy, and now everything was in English.

"Talk about what?" Jacen spat back

"About why you were illegally transporting antimatter into the empire".

Jacen shook his head from side to side, and an explosion of pain appeared in his skull.

"Doesn't ring a bell, maybe if you-" he was cut off mid sentence by one of the Somakians planting a fist in his ribs.

"You're a human, humans almost never come into Somakian space, so you must be getting quite a hefty payday to bring antimatter in"

"Antimatter? Me? You must have the wrong man, I'm a simple trader, I'm no smuggler"

Another fist found its way into Jacen's ribcage.

"If you don't cooperate, then we really have no use for you"

"But you know who does?" said the other Somakian, who'd been silent up until now, "our hounds haven't been fed in a week, and they're real hungry"

Jacen laughed, "ever heard of a fair trial?"

"You're a smuggler, if it was up to us you'd be dead already. Unfortunately the governor wants to know who you were taking the antimatter to".

Jacen contemplated it for a second, all they wanted to know was the buyer's name.

"Okay, okay. I was transporting the antimatter to a guy named Tal Lorin"

That name seemed to click in their heads because the two Somakians looked at each other in a moment of clarity.

"I think the governor is going to want to talk to you"

They took Jacen off the wall and marched him outside the cell, and down a corridor into an office. The governor sat behind a desk typing something into a desktop. He swiped it away when they entered.

"Governor Vizak, sir. This is the smuggler who was caught bringing antimatter into the empire, Jacen Quinn"

The governor looked slightly angry, "well why is he here in my office?"

"He told us who was buying the antimatter, sir. It's Tal Lorin"

The governor's mouth opened a fraction, then quickly snapped shut.

"Leave us" he said to the guards. They did and Jacen was left alone with Vizak.

"Do you know the man you were selling to?"

Jacen shook his head, he didn't care who he was, as long as he got his money.

"Tal Lorin was a former Imperial governor, in charge of watching over the Nilios system, that was before he began a rebellion against the emperor".

So the guy he was transporting antimatter to was revolting against the Somakian emperor, which meant that the antimatter was most likely going to be weaponised against the empire. By that extent Jacen was associating with a rebel leader and was most likely going to sentenced to death. Except, if that was the case, then why bring him into the governor's office, and why would the governor be telling him this, unless he was needed for something.

"Where were you supposed to take the antimatter?"

Jacen sat down on one of the chairs opposite Vizak's desk, a smirk beginning on his face.

"You need me to tell you this rebel's location, so you can kill him and end the revolt, and of course, gain the emperor's approval"

Vizak smirked himself, "very good, but just tell me where the hand-off was going to be, and not only will we give you your ship back, we'll let you go"

"But of course I have no guarantee you won't just kill me once I tell you Tal's location. Here's what we're going to do, I will take my ship to the hand-off, and lead you to him, in return for my freedom"

"Now why would I do that Mr Quinn?"

Jacen stood and walked over to a table in the room's corner that held various alcohols and glasses. He poured some ossevian wine into a glass, swirled it around a little, and drank it in one long gulp, it tasted just like the stuff back on Keltor. If Vizak seemed to mind at all he showed no indication.

"because, governor, you have no choice. If I don't tell you where the hand-off is Tal lives to cause trouble for the empire, and you remain as the overseer of a second-rate prison on the fringes of the empire".

Vizak gave on long, winding sigh, then he opened his mouth and spoke again, "okay, tell me what you need".


	2. Chapter 2

They had given him his ship back. After coming to an agreement with his Somakian captors, they'd given him back the _Blind Pope_ , but he needed to do something for them first, then he'd receive his freedom again. It had been two days since Governor Vizak had tasked him with leading the empire to the rebel leader, a former governor known as Tal Lorin. In those two days, Jacen had been steadily leading the Somakians to the meeting point between himself and the rebel leader, before finally arriving. The planet was known as D'horik, located in the empire's outer rim, far from authority, the perfect place to conduct illegality. There was little to no authority on the planet, which was most likely why Tal had chosen it as the meeting place. The Imperial ships maintained a safe distance, and when Jacen finally arrived at D'horik, they had stayed in orbit on the other side of the planet, away from any rebel eyes. Jacen took the _Blind Pope_ to docking bay 21, in D'horik's largest city, before he took off for the rendezvous. Due to his imprisonment at the hands of the empire, Jacen had contacted Tal and informed him that the shipment would be late, though of course he didn't tell him the true reason why, as far as Tal was concerned, the _Blind Pope_ had been hit by a stray meteorite and needed to make an emergency landing on Bilus for repairs. Jacen weaved his way through the bustling streets of the city, it was night, and the less savoury figures of society were outside. Whether they were pushing their product or their body, the people out at this time of night were all the same, desperate to get off this rock, to get to a better life that existed only in their imaginations.

The meeting place was a bar called _The Jungle Cat_ , of course that's what it translated to in English, the name was painted on a sign hanging above the establishment in Somakian. The bar itself was small but modest, with a green and red stained-glass window set into the wall next to the wooden door. Apparently it was supposed to resemble an old Earth bar, from several centuries ago. Jacen had never been to Earth so he couldn't really say if it was accurate or not. Jacen entered the bar, it was fairly large inside, spacious with several tables and booths spread throughout the room, and wooden pillars holding up the roof. There were only a dozen people in there though, and only one Somakian. He was sitting in a booth at the far end of the room, half hidden in the shadows of the poorly lit bar, but his crimson skin and pointed ears were still evident enough for Jacen to recognize his species. Jacen went to the counter, a Gylarian stood behind it polishing a glass.

"Can I get an ossevian wine please?"

The alien bartender nodded, pulled a wine glass from under the counter and filled it with a violet-coloured liquid that the galaxy knew as osseivan wine. Made using a fruit called an ossevia that was only found on Jacen's home planet of Keltor. Jacen took the glass, paid the bartender, and swaggered over to the Somakian's booth, sitting down opposite him.

"That seat's reserved" said the Somakian, his gruff voice reminded Jacen of his drill sergeant back in the naval academy, all those years ago.

"Yes I know, I'm the man you're here to meet with. The name's Jacen Quinn, and I've got your cargo waiting for you to get it off my ship before it puts a damned continent-shaped hole in it."

The Somakian, Tal, leaned forward out of the shadows, his right eye was covered by a black eye patch, obviously damaged somehow. There were several reasons why he would wear that instead of getting the eye replaced, he couldn't afford it, though that seemed unlikely seeing as how he was a former Imperial governor. Perhaps he wore it as a fashion statement.

"Is that so, well I'll go get it and we'll be done, what bay is your ship in?"

Jacen chuckled, just loud enough so that Tal could hear.

"First, my payment, then your cargo"

Tal smiled, "fine, here you go" he slid a small row of currency over the table towards Jacen, no larger than a bar of soap. "There's twenty-thousand Alliance credits there, plus another fifty when I receive my cargo"

It was risky, there was nothing to stop Tal from killing Jacen as soon as he led the way to his ship, and then just taking the cargo and his money back. Then again, the Imperials would enter the atmosphere as soon as Jacen said the code word, and Tal would be arrested.

"Okay, let's go" Jacen gulped down the glass of wine and stood up, a slight buzz beginning to find its way into his head, before leading Tal outside and back to the _Blind Pope_. The ship itself was fairly large, it was a raptor-class light freighter manufactured by Buchanan Incorporated about one-hundred and fifty years ago, old but reliable. The raptor was one of the sturdiest ships in the galaxy, and a favourite for both smugglers and traders alike. Jacen had bought the _Blind Pope_ from a Trondyte named Halik Borios nearly eleven years ago on Hephaestus Station, and Halik had gotten it from a human forty years before that. Who exactly the ship's first owner was, or why they had named it the _Blind Pope_ , had been lost to history.

Jacen opened the ship's cargo ramp and went aboard while Tal stayed outside, and a minute or so later, Jacen emerged from the ship with a floating crate about two meters by two meters.

"Here's the antimatter, now I want the second half of my payment, before the sunrise." _Sunrise_ , which was the code word that would bring the Imperial authorities to D'horik's surface. Any second now the docking bay would be flooded with Somakian military officers to arrest Tal, most likely he would be executed or at the very least brought before the emperor and tortured.

"Okay, a deal's a deal" Tal put his hand in his coat pocket and brought out two more rows of currency, throwing them over to Jacen who caught them.

"Nice doing business with you" Jacen's words were drowned out by the sudden appearance of an Imperial cruiser appearing in the air above the docking bay, casting a shadow over the already dark bay.

"Tal Lorin, you are under arrest for high treason and conspiracy to commit murder, surrender and prepare to be taken into custody" the voice came from the cruiser, amplified by speakers.

Tal looked at Jacen with pure hatred in his eyes, "you betrayed me?"

Jacen just shrugged, "sorry, it's just business"

The voice from the cruiser blasted again, "Jacen Quinn, you are under arrest for smuggling and cooperating with a fugitive, surrender and prepare to be taken into custody"

Jacen couldn't believe it, who said Somakians were honest? Nobody probably.


	3. Chapter 3

For the second time this week, Jacen was in a cell. He and Tal had been taken aboard the Imperial cruiser and thrown into the brig, their cells across from each other.

"Good job, now we're both in prison" said Tal, the contempt obvious in his voice.

Jacen sat down, his back against the wall of the small cell, "it wasn't my intention-"

"for you to be locked up as well, but you'd happily sell me out to the empire, no good disrespectful _rolakios._ " Jacen heard the last word in Somakian, despite his Universal Translator implanted in his neck, there must be no English translation for it, on some level Jacen was thankful for that.

"You're the rebel leader who wants to overthrow the Emperor, I want no part in your revolution"

"Then you should have declined my offer" growled Tal

"No way I'm turning down an offer that big, seventy-thousand credits is a pretty hefty payday, and all I had to do was smuggle some antimatter into the empire"

"You have no honour"

Jacen had to laugh at that, "and you do? You're a rebel, you betrayed your government to fight against them, and you bought antimatter to be used against them"

"The Emperor is a tyrant, he must be deposed and another take his place"

"Let me guess, you"

"If that is what it takes to defend the empire, then so be it"

Jacen scoffed at the alien's ignorance, he was just as bad as any Imperial.

"Yeah well, I'm not an Imperial citizen" said the human smuggler, "the Alliance will extradite me back to Keltor and I'll be tried there, in a _free_ court" he emphasised the word 'free'.

Now it was Tal's turn to laugh, so loud and raucous that Jacen was afraid the guards would reappear.

"You really think the empire would give you back to the Alliance, they hate each other, and they have for centuries. If you're lucky, they'll throw you into a slave labour camp for the rest of your life, the Alliance will never know what happened to you and of course the government will deny they ever had anything to do with you. Believe me, I know firsthand"

"That's right; you were an Imperial governor, weren't you? Vizak told me, you were governor of the Nilios system. What happened?"

Tal looked down at the metal floor beneath him, and for a minute Jacen thought their conversation was over, then the Somakian spoke again.

"For years I dedicated my life to the empire, serving them, obeying them. They made me governor when I was twenty-eight, I was the youngest governor in Imperial history, and had not yet known of the empire's evil. I was a good little civil servant, signing execution forms, I sentenced hundreds to death with my signature, then five years later I witnessed what is now known as the Massacre on Eronas."

The name struck a chord in Jacen's memory, "I've heard of that massacre, I was still with the navy back then, a petty officer onboard the ship I was serving on told me about it"

"Yes, it was the first time I saw how bad the empire truly was. A colony on the planet Eronas had begun to revolt against the emperor, the planet was in the Nilios system and so I was sent to the colony along with a battalion of marines. I watched them put down the revolt by killing every single man, woman and child, all for the glory of the empire. I deserted less than a week later, and a month after that a bounty hunter found me on Goral, he took my eye before I killed him."

"Yeah I was wondering about that, why didn't you just replace it, regrow it or get a bionic one?"

Tal moved his hand up to the eye patch, touching it, feeling it. "This reminds me, of the cruelty of the emperor and of my fight"

Jacen rolled his eyes, "oh please, do you hear yourself, regrowth solutions can be bought for next to nothing on the black market. See this arm" Jacen waved his left arm around, "let me tell you it's not the one I was born with."

"I don't care about you, or your limbs. The sooner I never see you again the better"

Jacen scoffed, "rude"

Tal stood up, walking to the force field that prevented him from leaving the cell, "I hope they execute you, you smuggling piece of-" whatever he was going to say was cut off when two Somakian guards entered the brig.

Tal stepped away from the force field as Governor Vizak entered after the guards.

Jacen got up, "you damned liar!"

Vizak smiled, "did you really think that we would let you go. You're a smuggler, we couldn't afford to let you roam free. Once we reach the prison, you will be sent to an Imperial labour camp, where you will live out your days mining for coal. The Alliance will never know what happened to you, and you'll just be another statistic."

"If I get out of here I'll-"

"Don't worry about that, you'll never get out of there", Vizak turned to Tal, "and you, a traitor to the empire. You'll be executed as soon as we reach the surface of the planet."

With that, the governor left, but the guards remained, no doubt under Vizak's orders.

Half an hour had passed when Tal began to choke. He fell to the ground and began clutching at his throat. One of the guards ran to the cell, lowering the force field and moving inside to help Tal while the second guard stood outside and watched the commotion. Jacen thought he knew what Tal was up to, and he tried to attract the second guard's attention.

"Hey, guard number two" the Somakian looked at him, "is this normal." He began to pull up his shirt when Tal, as if suddenly revived, landed a punch in the first guard's cheek. He went down, and Tal grabbed the pistol from the guard's holster. The second guard looked back at Tal and his hand reached for his own pistol, but it was too late. Tal fired the gun and a bolt of yellow energy struck the guard in the chest, killing him instantly.

"Hey, what about me" said Jacen as Tal began to leave the brig.

"I don't need you"

"Yes you do, do you really think you can take on every troop on this cruiser by yourself. We need each other to survive, whether you like it or not."

Tal closed his eye, cursed to himself and then deactivated the force field to Jacen's cell. Jacen took the second guard's gun and followed Tal out of the room, staying close behind him and covering their rear. Whenever they encountered a Somakian, they were shot, and by the time they reached the bridge, they'd killed five soldiers.

Tal opened the door onto the bridge, and was met with seven Imperial officers, standing or sitting around the room. Vizak sat in the captain's chair while the captain stood next to him. The view screen showed a large planet getting steadily larger as the cruiser moved towards it.

"Nobody move" announced Tal, as Jacen locked the door onto the bridge, ensuring nobody got in.

Everyone looked towards them, and Vizak stood up from the captain's chair. "How did you escape?" he exclaimed.

Before Tal could answer, or Jacen could come up with a sardonic remark, Vizak reached for the gun holstered on his hip. Jacen didn't even look at where he was aiming; he just raised his own gun and fired blindly. The energy bolt hit Vizak's shoulder, knocking the gun from his hand and making him fall to the ground. That convinced all the other bridge officers to raise their hands in surrender, including the captain.

After putting everybody into an escape pod and jettisoning them, the cruiser was empty except for Tal and Jacen. They found the _Blind Pope_ in the ship's cargo hold, and Tal took the antimatter, and then made good on his deal and paid Jacen the rest of his money.

"Well, I hope I never see you again" said the rebel leader.

Jacen laughed, "me too."

Jacen took the _Blind Pope,_ and jumped into hyperspace while the Imperial cruiser went the opposite way. The stars outside Jacen's view screen elongated and then the ship began travelling at faster-than-light, towards a new adventure.


End file.
